THE BLUE BOTTLE CAFE will wake up your taste buds with inspired New American cuisine. Dishes such as handmade ricotta gnocchi with Virginia ham, Crenshaw melon, scallions and cantaloupe puree ($22) and pan-seared crab cakes with sauteed leeks and sausage, French beans and mashed potatoes in a champagne beurre blanc ($24) are served with aplomb at the cheery eatery tucked in the tiny town of Hopewell in Mercer County.

DECOR: Owners Aaron and Rory Philipson (Culinary Institute of America grads and executive chef and pastry chef, respectively) opened the restaurant in March 2006 . It's a modest white structure accented by blue-shuttered windows fronted by a parking lot. The bright, airy interior is comprised of three dining rooms, which seat 65. Paintings and dozens of eponymous blue bottles line the ivory stucco walls of two rooms. Wood ceilings, walls and floors add an earthy element. A pretty rear "greenhouse" room is enclosed in windows trimmed in a floral stained glass-patterned contact paper.